Long Frosted Poems

"Open Oceans"



Kneeling on pearls
wisdom preys

praying
preying

hungry hearts
count the days 

wasting away
in all that preying 

for prayers 
to be answered

children become
strangers

reading 
strange words

finding 
themselves puzzled

genuflecting to a deity
they do not know, nor wish to

fumbling
mouths closed,

swallowed hole
in the...

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Justin Case - the weirdest guy in the all of Buxton county - did a lot o’ crazy things that most would never try,
And even weirder - just before he’d do the things he did...

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A born lioness my untamed heart? ha! 
a mouse, this pulsing token ruled by unruly wants
at times given, traded or stolen - sometimes
thrown down on a dare to be won or lost 
till it became...

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Increase In Head Size

impossible mission to encapsulate notion 
flitting hither and yon, to and fro
within cranium attached to mine body,
whereby irrefutable proof prevails
predicated when yours truly
scrutinizes other people visibly aware,
I a modest married male 
blessed,...

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She dresses the land down
in a virginal bridal gown 
a masterfully cut and sewn chenille 
shines brightly with a fine crystal appeal

Her assistants work quite diligently
to add special touches and then flee
they decorated the mountain peaks 
using all their...

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Being fired for no good reason, particularly just before you qualify for your pension, is a very devastating experience. This happened to one of my sisters -

        ...

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"Midnight to 3.33, Morning Kills"



He said, 
“Go to where the poets go
Love rolls wet and sways
Intensity wraps itself inside out
and somersaults its legs backward
to open a way
Out
It’s kind of burning hot 
like Summer burns 
bare...

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It is not just Santa Claus who we meet in cold December— 
There is “Carolina,” and she’s the beauty of a winter picture perfect 
With luscious long coal black curly hair far down on her...

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About Bill Posters and Bill Greenwell

Words not to use in poems

In 1993, I (Bill Greenwell) went on a three-day workshop with the poet Peter Sansom, who co-edits The North, and runs the Smith/Doorstop imprint. He’s...

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I got a text from one of my professors yesterday saying, ‘Please stop by my office at 6 pm tomorrow.’ It didn’t say why. This was the first day after November recess, had I missed...

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He said he planned to freeze to death.

Did he mean to have his body frozen?
Stored to hatch again later,
leftovers out of time's deep freezer of waiting.

No, not that.
He responds with undeniable dismissal,
this would not be...

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Destruction, As Kali Walks Upon Earthen Grounds


Goddess of Destruction that teams with the Lord of Lusts 
As wrathful winds bequeath savage ravaging gusts
Hades match,  that has destroyed many a soul
World and darkness combine to...

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The bones of winter cracked the ice black, coal black night.
A hoary wind spits frost crystals that dazzle and blur the sight.
Boney fingers of bare deciduous wood, scratch against the eaves
as the stranger's tread crackles...

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(continues after part1)

When he agreed, his neck I held and climb;
And he waited for proper time and place,
And when the wings were open at the prime,

He clutched the hairy ribs with strong embrace;
From fleece to...

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This is the final CANTO of Hell. I am going to publish the full translation as epub on AMAZON. It was a very hard work to find rhymes in english.

“Vexilla regis prodeunt inferni now
Toward us;...

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Mossy vines served as camouflage for a  d
                          ...

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"SYNAESTHESIA"



The Rose was burning 
long before she was Green
The Synaesthete placed his brush stroke
On his future dreams


Long before she was Green
The Synaesthete dreamed of him
Walking barefoot through the buried Rust 
and rustling burnished Ochre leaves...

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MY GREATEST ADVENTURE

The greatest adventure of my lifetime took place in a quaint little town on the East Coast  ---  a town whose name I can't remember.  Oh, but the girl, I...

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Then I saw thousand grim faces because
Cold distorted; thus I get much disgust
And always is so, any frost pond does.

And while we went to the middle just
Where any heavy fault and pain is found,
And in...

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- A Most Irish Fairy Tale – Merry Christmas to All

It’s not just Santa Claus who we meet in the very cold of December; 
There is “Carolina,” and she’s the beauty of a winter picture...

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seasons keep m o v i n g 
 and s w i r l i n g
memories keep f l o w i n g 
and s h i f t i n g
through...

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Pointless…a strange existence, lost in the panoramic leisure of humanity's walk
I am consumed, doomed to non-being, with lingering darkness
A pain to wake up to the sound of its heavy breathing over my head
And it's agonizing...

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We passed over, where was held in frost state
Harshly contained people of the next band,
Not down bent, but all lying in quite strait.

Weeping itself  the tears does not disband,
And pain which finds in eyes...

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IMPRINTS
(Part 1 of Trilogy for My Father)

His shoes by the front door make me cry,
like his glasses resting atop an
unfinished crossword
and his toothbrush in its holder
the bristles still damp.
And I wonder...

Did he brush his teeth...

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Once upon a night so bleak,
frozen silent laid the creek --
air of death, pushed, swore
and swore...as if were fists
pounded the frail, wood door;

shutters noised, bolting and
banging; metal hinges oddly
clanging – cupboard glasses
adding more tumultuous tang,...

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